


You'd Better Learn To Fly ('Cause They're Gonna Point You Up At The Sky)

by Shadow_Taylor



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Klaus loves Dave, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Post-Canon, idk - Freeform, im sorry this is terrible and rushed, sort of angst, this took so much longer to write then it probably should've and its not even very long or good lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 08:56:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18312371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Taylor/pseuds/Shadow_Taylor
Summary: For Dave, he would go through it all again.





	You'd Better Learn To Fly ('Cause They're Gonna Point You Up At The Sky)

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Noel Gallagher's "In The Heat Of The Moment"

Klaus didn't enjoy having PTSD. He also didn't enjoy having withdrawals.

Klaus didn't enjoy many parts of his life and sometimes thought that it was unfair that his siblings always seemed to have it easier than him. 

Why didn't they have the ability to see ghosts? Why did he have to be the one who was always weighed down by the spirits? Why did he have to carry the burden of having so many--too many--ghosts shouting at him, begging him, to help them when both he and them knew deep down that there was almost no possible way that he could--or would--help them? 

He secretly used to be jealous of Vanya. She didn't have to go on missions, risking her life every other day. She didn't have to do special training like his, having to be stuck with the spirits in the mausoleum for hours upon hours, them screaming endlessly and only being able to finally escape in the mornings, right before he nearly went completely insane each time, just so the others wouldn't question his father about where he was and why he wasn't at breakfast and why he was getting 'special attention'. It wasn't that his father didn't want them to think that he was a bad father (he knew that more than half of them thought that already and didn't care), it was only because he didn't want them talking at breakfast. 

Vanya didn't have to resort to drugs and alcohol and lonely nights with strangers, just to get rid of the ghosts that haunted her life and mind at all times. 

But that didn't mean she didn't have it bad as well. Klaus only really realized that as the apocalypse was impending and there was no stopping that. 

In what he thought would be his last moments, watching as the big chunk of moon came crashing towards them all, some how both slowly and too fast at the same time, he thought about his life, his regrets, his family, his (although very few) friends. He searched for something that could make him think that he was sad about dying. He never really felt like him dying was a bad thing. His family would get over it within days. The few friends he had were all in 1968 and more than likely already dead. 

He thought about the bliss he would feel, finally being completely free of the burdens of the ghosts (that is, if God even let him really die this time), not having to rely on the drugs and alcohol that he had always loved and hated to rid himself of them anymore. 

And finally his mind, like it always had in the last few days (and many months in the past), eventually stopped searching when he reached for the dog tags around his neck and he thought of someone in particular.

Dave.

The love of his wasted, drug-fueled haze of a life.

And he smiled.

He would see Dave again. 

He would never have to leave him lying on the dusty battlefield again, with no breath leaving his mouth even though Klaus still had some, breath that he would've gladly given away to Dave if he could've because the world deserved someone like Dave in it. The world didn't want Klaus in it. It was obvious, with all the times he had died before (although, with all the times that he had died before, why was that the first time he actually ever felt like he was dying?). But the problem was that Heaven and Hell didn't want him either, so to Earth he keep returning, the Earth seeming to get angrier with him each time he returned.

He would never have to see that bullet hole, that battlefield, or even just that day in his nightmares again because you can't get nightmares in heaven, can you? It's supposed to be peaceful there and, although it happened to mistakenly let Reginald in there, full of only good, so maybe if Klaus happened to some how manage to make it there again when he died. Him and Dave could live happily forever after, no PTSD to trouble either of them, even though they were riddled with it as humans, no withdrawals for Klaus, even though his life revolved around things that caused them, no ghosts (well no more ghosts that only he could see at least), and no nightmares. Finally. 

So he smiled and waited, thinking about Dave and caressing the dog tags that hung around his neck, for the chunk of moon to hit them. 

But it didn't. Because suddenly there was an idea made by one of them and they were all standing in a circle holding hands(like kindergartners, Klaus lazily thought to himself, not voicing his thought out loud), Vanya being cradled in Luther's hands, still unconscious, and Ben with his ghost hand on Klaus's shoulder so he would be brought along too, and they were traveling throughout time without much thought on where and when it would bring them. 

They traveled to when they were thirteen again. When they were thirteen and Five hadn't time traveled and gotten stuck in the future yet (and in this timeline he didn't), Ben hadn't died yet, and Klaus wasn't completely addicted to his vices yet (although he was already nearly there at the time). Reginald was still a terrible father, trying to keep Vanya medicated and unknowledgeable of what she was capable of, but, of course, this time around, they all knew what he had done, what he was doing. They couldn't do much to stop him yet, but they could do things they hadn't beforehand. On the days when Klaus was forced to do his 'special training', which he had finally told the rest of his siblings about what it consisted of the day before it occurred for the first time in a long time in his actual lifespan in the new timeline. They couldn't force Reginald to stop locking Klaus in the mausoleum, due to being kids again and not wanting to uncover that they were from the future just yet, but they could do a few things. After he was locked in there each time, Five would teleport in, either with one of there siblings in tow, most frequently Ben, since he was the second most knowledgeable about how Klaus's nights in the mausoleum usually went like, second only to Klaus himself, and a light source, or, if none of them could stay with him there, Five would bring him games to distract himself through the night as much as he could along with a few more lights than usual, and although they didn't help as much as his siblings did, it was the thought that counted. On the nights that he was alone down there, he found himself humming some of the songs from his playlist in the future, even though some of them hadn't even been written yet.

Together, they were all able to slowly get Vanya off of the power suppressant drugs that she was still taking in the past, with her just pretending to swallow the pills when they were given to her under Reginald's line of vision, and her spitting them out when he was distracted and not paying attention to her. The siblings slowly tried to teach her to control her abilities, which she was eventually able to do and use them without every thing around her braking. They each tried their best to include Vanya in their activities outside of the academy, which she appreciated.

They were even able to prevent Ben from dying when the day that he had died on before in the previous timeline came up. That was a few years after they had been living as teenagers again, but they could never forget anything that had happened that day, from what they had eaten that morning to what they had thought that they tried to sleep that night, much less could they forget the date it happened. And so they saved him from his horrible (but in the end not so bad because he hadn't had to use his powers a lot as a ghost) fate. And times, unlike the past timelines, weren't too bad.

But before they had completely gotten Vanya off her meds and before they had to save Ben from his fate, when they were just again arriving in the past, not everything was perfect. Not that it ever really was, with Reginald around and everything, but still. They were all still feeling bad about themselves for how they had treated Vanya so terribly as children and while they all tried their best to make up for it, Klaus found himself more frequently alone, since everyone else was either with Vanya or Ben or Five, making up for all the lost time like they couldn't--or maybe wouldn't--when the world was a week from ending. Klaus hadn't felt like going to be with everyone else and he was unused to not having Ghost Ben being around him at almost all times. He wasn't ever really alone, but the ghosts that yelled at him or just stood quietly in the corner of his room staring at him with their cold, dead eyes were not very good company and they just made him itch for the drugs and alcohol that he had previously oh-so loved, but he forced himself not to relapse again. It hurt not to when he knew where every single little pill and bottle he had stashed were, but he stood as strongly as he could. He often found his hand unconsciously drifting towards any bottle in the medicine cabinet when he was in the bathroom or towards his pockets for cigarettes that weren't there whenever he was having a particularly hard day, but he stopped himself from taking pills and from buying more cigarettes. Why? For Dave. Although his time with Dave may not have happened in this timeline yet, he still remembered. He still remember his laugh and his kisses and his hugs. He still loved him.

The things that caused Klaus the most trouble were the flashbacks. Like mentioned before, although his time in Vietnam 1968 may not have happened yet, he remembered and he relived it at the most random of times. In the middle of missions, when the gunshots of the bad guys sounded a bit too much like the rifles that shot at them; sometimes when Reginald yelled at him for not paying attention, it was only because he was reliving a certain battle where he and Dave had almost died together, or, more often, the battle where one of them had actually died. He remembered that day as clearly as if it was yesterday and he would never forget it for the rest of his life. He would remember the feeling of Dave's blood on his hands and he would cry until he couldn't, sometimes in front of his siblings, sometimes while alone. He would scream even more than usual in the night, but no one would hear with his sound proof walls, so he suffered in silence while the ghosts tormented him and he cried over and over for Dave to come back to him. On the nights he could sleep, it wasn't for long and he always relived that one day in his dreams, waking with Dave's name on his lips. 

Those nights (which were almost every night) were the ones that caused him to want to turn back to drugs and alcohol the most. 

But he didn't.

Because it was for Dave.

After a few weeks and his siblings slowly taking notice of the things he was experiencing, when it happened to be a very stressful day for him, having been yelled at multiple times after having multiple flashbacks that he really didn't want, and the ghosts wouldn't stop appearing behind his eyes when he closed them and wouldn't stop screaming when he opened them, and he felt like he was going to explode if he didn't take something, Vanya came up to him and invited him to hang out with her in her room. He really hadn't felt like being around anyone at that time, but he gave it when she insisted that everyone else was busy and she wanted to play violin for someone. 

Klaus sat on her bed and relaxed backwards as she got her violin ready. She had obviously retained her violin skills from when she was an adult, not that she wasn't good at violin when she was thirteen before because she was, but she was much more advanced this time around than she was before. 

Klaus laid backwards and closed his eyes when she started to play a soft, slow melody that he didn't know the name of, but it sounded vaguely familiar. For the first time all day, the ghosts weren't there and he felt completely at ease as the professional sounding song drifted on. It was so calming that he almost feel asleep, although he tried his best not to, not wanting to offend Vanya and make her think that her playing was boring to him. He was so far away from his head while she played that he didn't even notice when she had stopped playing until she suddenly spoke to him.

"Are you asleep?" She asked in her usual soft tone.

Klaus quickly opened his eyes and sat up, and shook his head rapidly.

"No, no, of course not! That was just wonderful, my dearest sister." He grinned widely at her, hoping silently that she couldn't tell that he was lying and was still a few seconds away from falling asleep. 

She could tell, but she was anything but offended. It was, after all, her plan to help him sleep by playing a quiet and sleeping melody. 

"You can sleep, you know," She said, "I won't be offended. I know you've had more trouble sleeping than you usually do."

Klaus looked down at his lap momentarily before looking back at her. "Your playing is amazing though. Why would I want to sleep through it?"

"Look Number Four, you don't have to tell us about what's been causing you more trouble than usual, but I've noticed that you've sober as of lately and I just wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you. I don't know what's caused this sudden change, but I hope you stick to it and I hope that you know that if you ever have trouble sleeping or want to talk about it or just any trouble at all, that any one of us would gladly to help you. I wouldn't mind you waking me up in the middle of the night to play you violin if it would help you sleep calmly for once. And I'm sure Ben wouldn't mind you waking him up either. I know me and our siblings haven't always been the best to you either, but I want to try like they've tried for me and I'm sure they do to."

Klaus wanted to cry and tell her everything about Dave and his time in Vietnam, but he was way too tired then so he just nodded to her violin and fell asleep to the sound of the quiet melody and the feeling of a blanket being placed over him.

The next morning, Klaus got his siblings together and he told them all about Dave, Vietnam, and everything that happened there, the good and the bad (although maybe not the dirty). After that day, Klaus would sit with his siblings as they talked and he'd join in sometimes, he'd watch and talk as Diego practiced throwing his knifes, he closed his eyes and slept as Vanya played him a different melody every time he came to her, but sometimes they just talked, about Dave or about whatever they wanted to. He would go to Allison and they'd dress up in her skirts and they did each others make up and he'd tell her about what he loved about Dave, and he'd go to Ben and Ben would read to him whatever book he was reading at the time and he would chip in little comments that would make Ben laugh whenever he could. Klaus never really went to Luther without any other of their siblings being with him. Luther locking Vanya up hit way too close to home for Klaus and even though Luther might've felt bad for what he had done, Klaus was still cautious. He'd go to Five and Five would play board games with him and he'd ask Five about Delores and what she was like and the reasons why he loved her and he would listen as Five went on and on about Delores as he thought over his own reasons for loving Dave and he'd think that love came in many different forms for many different reasons, but Five's reasons for loving Delores were sort of similar to Klaus's reasons for loving Dave. Five loved Delores because she was the only one left (even if she was a mannequin) and, even if their conversations were mostly just him imagining her voice in his head, he loved that she listened and talked him down when he was sick and tired of living in the wasteland that he used to call Earth and she made him feel as though even though he was the last human alive that he wasn't actually alone. Klaus loved Dave because Dave was there for him from the time that he arrived in 1968 to Dave's death. He loved that Dave listened to him on the nights when neither of them could sleep because of the noises they heard outside, even though he probably sounded insane every time he talked. He loved that Dave never once seemed to think he was crazy or pathetic when he talked about the ghosts he saw and how they yelled at him and about the things that he had down just to get them to go away for the night. In turn for Klaus's stories, Dave would tell him his own stories and Klaus would listen with as much attention on Dave as possible when there was a war going on outside. He loved Dave because Dave made him feel hopeful and loved for once in his life and he never wanted to ever be parted from Dave. 

But of course the universe never gave what he wanted.

And if many years later, Klaus asked Five for a trip to and from Vietnam 1968 because he wanted to visit a loved one, then it was no one but his and Five's business, but if they came back with an extra party who looked like they had just had a near death experience and made Klaus happier than he had ever been and who happened to be named Dave and who knew nothing about things that came out later than 1968, then it's not like the Hargreeves' siblings could be mad or anything. He made Klaus after all, so what could they say against it?

And for Klaus, he did get to be happy in the end. Because he had a reason to be. He had his siblings and Pogo and Grace and he had Dave and what else could he ask for?

Although the PTSD never really went away for Klaus or Dave and the withdrawals Klaus when through for the first weeks made Klaus want to either die or down every pill and alcohol bottle in the house and the ghosts were always still there, Klaus believed that it was all worth it in the end. He went through it all for Dave and he would got through it all again for Dave.

After all, what wouldn't he do for Dave?


End file.
